Unsuspecting Growth
Leon headed out through the north gate of Verin. He kept walking until he hit a forest, where high F Tier monsters and some low ranked E Tier monsters lived..
As Leon was entering the forest, he heard a passing Adventurers whisper.
"Isn't that one of the bottom rankers of F Tier?"
The other Adventurer looked at Leon.
"He's going into the forest by himself as a low-ranked F Tier? Does he have some death wish? Even we wouldn't enter by ourselves and we are E Tiers."
Normally Leon would have been a little down, however, this was the first time Leon felt like he was going on an adventure, even though it was just to test out his altered stats.
Leon entered the forest and activated stealth to go look for his first test subject.
-4 Mana for Skill Lvl. 1 Stealth
Remaining Mana: 24/28
Leon stalked around the forest by using the trees as cover and stealthy running via trees. He finally found his first test subjects, two blue slimes roaming in an open field. Normally for any Adventurer, these would have been as easy as lifting a finger. However, due to Leon's previous low level and stats, fighting these was a 50/50 life and death situation. Since this was the weakest monster in the area, Leon barely progressed previously.
Leon contracted his lower body and dashed to the closest slime using all his speed.
-2 Mana for Skill Lvl. 1 Dash
Remaining Mana: 22/28
Leon stopped moving as soon as he went out of his dash because he had over dashed his target by multiple meters.
Leon looked in disbelief
'What just happened? I know my agility had increased, but I thought I dialed back. To think my dash was this fast now.'
Instead of dashing, Leon ran to the slime and arrived as fast as his old dash. He took his dagger and swung with full force onto the slime. The slime was killed.
+8 Exp.
The impact from the dagger was so powerful it cracked the ground where the slime died. Leon's jaw went slack from the sheer shock of his new power. He wondered if he could kill these slimes without a dagger. As he finished his thought, he turned towards the lonely slime, and the unsuspecting slime tried to hop away. However, Leon instantly caught up to him and used his fist to slam into the ground killing the slime, leaving a crater two feet in diameter.
+8 Exp.
+Level - Now Level 4, Exp:1/41, Mana set to 30/30
As Leon tried to open his Stat Sheet, he barely dodged an arrow that whizzed past him landing in the group two feet behind him. He looked in the general direction the arrow came from and saw a group of blood-thirsty goblins approaching him.
Before they descended on his position, Leon used his newfound speed to quickly hop back to the tree line. He used this time to analyze his opponents, one archer, a shield-bearer, a spear, and one swordsman goblins.
Leon grunted in annoyance.
'To think I would encounter a balanced group of goblins. Tch, I would've died in a one-on-one not too long ago. However I am no longer the same person, compared to those guardians back at the monument, this is nothing!'
Dashing, Leon closed the distance between himself and the goblin archer then backstabbed the unsuspecting goblin for a swift kill.
-2 Mana for Skill Lvl. 1 Dash
-4 Mana for Skill Lvl. 1 Back Stab
Remaining Mana: 24/30
+9 Exp.
Seeing Leon's speed, the goblins re-organized themselves with the shield-bearer in front with a spearman covering the front and the swordsman protecting the flank. A smart plan, considering the speed difference between Leon and themselves, however, Leon took advantage of his new power and rushed the shield-bearer with his bare fists.
The shield-bearer stuck his wooden shield reinforced with thin scrap metal in the ground and put his abnormally large size behind it. Leon grinned at the challenge and summoned all his strength into his fist and punched the shield.
*pow* Leon's fist went through the shield and ended up breaking the shield bearer's skull as his fist reached its target, splattering blue blood all over Leon's fist and his clothes.
+10 Exp.
The spear goblin holding the front forced his spear at Leon, while he was distracted with the now-dead shield bearer. Remembering what Emilia did at the Moon Festival, Leon sidestepped the spear and cut below the vision of the goblin's eyes, and stuck his dagger through the poor goblin's ribs. The Goblin coughed out blue blood as it started falling down and hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.
+10 Exp.
Leon wiped the blood off his eyes and turned his attention to the lone remaining swordsman goblin. Leon noticed the last goblin seemed to be the most well equipped, highest leveled, and leader out of the now-dead group.
The swordsman assumed a swords stance and his eyes burned a deep red rage, determined to avenge its lost, comrades.
"You dvj g kmjn sgzoc. Fiwiuma qm Die!"
Leon almost lost his focus as he heard the words.
"Impossible, how can I understand you, it is simply not possible. I don't speak the Goblin language, tell me now."
The swordsman simply looked at Leon in confusion, with his head tilted
Right before he started moving, Leon thought.
'Maybe he actually doesn't understand me, but rather I understood some parts of his language? Now is not the time!'
Leon grabbed a piece of wood from the broken shield and threw it at the swordsman with all his strength. The swordsman, with impressive reaction time for a goblin, easily sliced the wood in half, however, he realized that Leon was already in his blind spot.
Leon tried to jab the dagger at the goblin's heart, but the goblin moved just in time so that the dagger only pierced the scrap metal chest plate the goblin wore and countered with its own swing.
Leon was grazed only enough that his ruined leather tunic had another slash in it and strategically dashed out of sight of the goblin to activate stealth.
-2 Mana for Skill Lvl. 1 Dash
-4 Mana for Skill Lvl. 1 Stealth
Remaining Mana: 18/30
The goblin tried to find his opponent, but couldn't. Then suddenly it heard a sound coming from behind it, only to realize it was a rock someone threw. As it turned back around, the goblin was met with dagger inches in front of its face.
*clunk*
The dagger went cleanly through the swordsman's face and lodged itself in the ground.
+18 Exp.
+Level - Now Level 5, Exp:7/55, Mana set to 32/32
Leon walked over to pick up his dagger and sat down trying to recover the lost energy he just expended.
'What a crazy day.'